


Over My Head

by aprildaze



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Football | Soccer, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-17 10:06:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14186529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aprildaze/pseuds/aprildaze
Summary: It’s more than life or death: it’s a soccer match.





	Over My Head

“Is that really your best?” grins Suna’s Ultimate Defense.

It is not a pleasant grin, but Lee still finds himself flustered! Suna’s goalie has a long streak of red-brown dirt arching across his sharp cheek, but is otherwise standing unmarred and victorious.

“Lee, come on!” Neji snaps.

Usually, That Tone would be enough to grab Lee’s attention, but instead he watches Gaara’s grin sharpen, raising his hands high and flicking the soccer ball overhead in a graceful pass to his midfield teammates. Lee lets out a strangled groan-shout, punching the air.

“I will score on Suna by the end of the match!” he shouts. “Or I will run two hundred, no, five hundred laps around the field!”

“There’s not much time,” the goalie taunts.

It’s true: there are only four minutes left on the clock, including stoppage time. Suna’s goalie may be joyfully passing the entire game teasing Lee — calling out Lee's thick eyebrows, splendid haircut, and even his halftime jumping jacks — but Lee is a wondrous example of youthful sportsmanship and he will _not_ let his teammates down!

“It’s more than enough time!” Lee answers.

As a forward it’s easy to imagine the game as nothing more than a rivalry between Gaara and himself, standing face to face at the goal line: but soccer is a team sport and the battle at midfield is equally fierce. Even Shikamaru seems caught up in the competitive spirit!

The lazy midfielder springs forward, incepting a fumbled pass: without pause the soccer ball comes racing back towards them. Suna’s defense fumbles to cover the two Konoha forwards, but even their toughest players are beginning to flag after a ninety-minute game.

Ha! It is moments like this that Lee is grateful for the wisdom of Coach Gai’s Super Endurance Training, even if he would like to sleep in, sometimes, especially on Monday mornings!

Lee sees the opening before it appears. Neji feints for a goal, but instead kicks with precision straight to Lee. Suna’s defense surges forward but can’t keep up with Konoha High School’s quickest player. Lee grins, pulling back his foot and using the momentum of Neji’s pass to drive the kick home — brushing past the outstretched fingertips of Suna’s Ultimate Defense.

Gaara’s eyes widen, gaze locked on Lee — but they both know he’s lost the play even before the buzzer and crowd scream for the sudden goal. Lee pumps his fists in the air, shouting, “ _That_ is my best!” 

“Lee!” Neji shouts. They’re still two goals behind and maybe a lesser team would quit, but Konoha is brimming with passionate youth!

Gaara tosses the ball towards the referee for the next kick-off, but even in profile, Lee feels his heart kick funny in his chest because for a moment — just a moment — he swears that Suna’s Ultimate Defense is finally smiling softly.

 

After a rousing defeat speech from Coach Gai — truly splendid and inspiring, Lee still has tears in his eyes — the two teams line up to shake hands. Lee tries to keep his eyes focused on his other opponents, but his gaze keeps flickering back to Gaara at the end of Suna’s lineup, heartbeat quickening as they move closer and closer together.

For Lee, it’s as if the entire match has been eclipsed by Gaara’s final, fleeting smile.

GAH! But Lee shouldn’t care, _doesn’t care_ , what the smirking goalie really thinks of him because Lee is a professional and a match is a match is a match! Lee will be brisk, and polite, and then he’ll quickly leave with his too-quick heartbeat!

At least, that’s the plan, up until the goalie is standing before him.

“You’re a talented player,” Gaara offers, taking Lee’s extended hand and holding it tight in his calloused palms. Lee blinks rapidly, and then remembers that he’s expected to say something in return.

“You as well!” Lee answers, as earnest as possible so Gaara cannot possibly doubt his sincerity. Lee’s honesty is rewarded with a smile: one of Gaara’s gentle, handsome smiles that make Lee forget how to move. Suddenly, it doesn’t matter that Konoha lost, that Suna’s goalie spent the whole game teasing Lee, that today even Lee’s very best wasn’t quite good enough.

“I don’t mind that you were teasing me,” he says, grinning bright despite the weight of loss and his pounding, too quick heartbeat. Gaara raises a pair of incredibly faint eyebrows, drawing his hand away.

“Oh,” he answers. “I wasn’t teasing you.”

His gaze moves slowly down Lee’s body, and then snaps back up again, his gentle smile curving sharper.

Lee suddenly finds that his mouth is very, very dry, and he doesn’t know what to say, exactly… But it doesn’t matter, exactly, because Gaara is already moving on to shake Naruto’s hand and Naruto is enthusiastically shouting at the other goalie and Lee is standing at the edge of the field replaying the entire ninety-six minute match in his head because!

It _wasn’t_ teasing?

 

Lee does a set of three hundred crunches, just to clear his head, and then makes his way to the home team locker room. After a vigorous, cold shower to soothe his aching limbs, Lee’s familiar green tracksuit feels as a welcome as a warm blanket, or a soft bed, or a freshly fluffed pillow.

In fact, Lee feels certain he could fall asleep right here on this metal bench, which might be why Neji pushes against his shoulders until Lee’s up on his feet again.

“Get going, Lee,” Neji complains in that voice that means he would Very Much like his best friend to rest and in a place that is anywhere but the men’s locker room.

His kindness brings fresh tears to Lee’s eyes: before Neji, locker rooms were fraught places for Lee that he could never flee quickly enough. Now his noble friend ensures that Lee is always comfortable, regardless of the sex Lee was assigned at birth.

“Thank you, my friend!” he declares, taking Neji’s hands in his own and shaking them vigorously: Neji is familiar with Lee’s gratitude and quick to shake it off with only mild reproach, especially considering the weight of today’s loss. “Remember, one cannot know victory without defeat! If the path to glory was smoothly paved, then it would not be honorable!”

Lee feels especially encouraged with so many strange feelings fighting in his chest. Surely, the struggle of today must mean greater triumph tomorrow?

He knows many of his teammates will celebrate tonight, heedless of the loss, content to find any excuse to spend time together. Lee sometimes joins them, but usually after an invigorating match, he finds himself wanting to train even more!

Tonight might _just_ be an exception. Lee finds himself unusually exhausted… maybe it’s Gaara. The goalie’s skill had certainly made for an exciting match, but his words had given Lee a lot to think about afterwards.

Well, one thing to think about, but one thing to think about quite intensely.

So intensely, that at first Lee imagines that he is imagining the redhead leaning against the stadium wall, just outside the home team’s locker room.

Except then Gaara smiles, a new smile, awkward and shy.

“Hi.”

“Hi!” Lee shouts, jogging over to the goalie. Gaara is still dressed in Suna’s uniform, his jersey dark red instead of brown to signify his position as goalie. Lee only notices because maroon is quite a nice color on Gaara, contrasting against his pale brown skin and drawing out flecks of hazel inside of his eyes.

“You still have dirt on your cheek,” Lee blurts out.

“Oh,” Gaara seems surprised. He raises his hand to the wrong cheek, absently rubbing at the sharp bone. “I was waiting for you.”

“For me?” Lee repeats. Gaara shrugs, looking off at the mostly empty parking lot, and then back at Lee, his smile growing in warmth rather than size.

“No one’s ever scored on me before.”

“Oh!”

“It’s really hot.”

_“Oh.”_

Like before, one word from Gaara and Lee suddenly feels flustered and warm all over. It’s an overwhelming, deep feeling for Lee: an asexual boy who often finds himself surprised by his own pleasure and desire. “That’s, um, that’s very nice!” he declares, wondering if he should try flirting, worried it’ll come out unpracticed and insincere at a moment when the very last thing he would want is insincerity. 

Gaara laughs, a soft sound that curls into a sharper smile, seemingly content as he looks at Lee, flustered and exhausted and buzzing with sudden, anxious, delight.

“Do you want to make out?” he asks.

 _“Yes,”_ Lee sighs, dropping his bag to the ground and cupping his hands against Gaara’s sharp cheekbones, pulling him in close. Gaara is nearly a head shorter than Lee and reaches to throw his arms around Lee’s neck, pulling himself up into the kiss. Lee fumbles a bit, teeth clattering briefly against Gaara’s before he finds a rhythm, his mouth open and soft against Gaara’s, their tongues teasing and sharp in a series of blunt, breathless kisses.

Lee pushes his hands back through Gaara’s hair, tugging lightly on the soft red strands. Gaara groans, pressing harder against Lee, running one hand down his spine in a smooth, confident gesture. Lee grins into their kiss: remembering the way Gaara’s lithe body had moved on the field, so certain that he could block any pass. It seems impossible that Lee’s here now, letting himself be wrapped up in a boy who had been his rival less than an hour ago, but Gaara is maddening and admirable and just as good at kissing as he is at blocking goals.

“Bro! Come on, the bus is ready to leave without you!”

A figure rounds the school corner: Lee hastily tries to pull away from Gaara, but their limbs are horribly tangled together and he can’t quite tell if his arm or Gaara’s has to move first, which is why the figure shouts, _“Gaara,”_ in a half horrified, half exasperated voice.

“Kankurō,” Gaara answers, though he’s still looking at Lee, completely unabashed. His jersey is pushed halfway up his stomach and the fabric doesn’t fall back even when Lee sucks in his breath to try to create some room between them.

Lee is certain he should be embarrassed, but instead he very much wants to kiss Gaara again.

“Really?” Kankurō demands, as if he knows exactly what Lee and Gaara are thinking.

Gaara smiles, shrugging lightly as if in apology, before he gently steps away from Lee. Lee, usually so quick to jump to every action, lets his arms hang heavy and loose, reluctantly falling to his side only when Gaara moves back.

Kankurō scowls at Lee, throwing an arm around Gaara in a fierce, protective gesture that strikes Lee as very adorable and very terrifying.

“It was nice to meet you,” Gaara says, neatly shaking off his brother’s arm. Lee wonders if maybe he’s knocked out on the soccer field, living out some fantastic fantasy, though surely in a fantasy he wouldn’t be caught by Gaara’s brother, the same player who had nearly taken out Kiba’s knees at midfield.

“It was splendid meeting you!” Lee answers. “You’re a marvelous goalie and, uh—” His friends have made it clear that Lee shouldn’t shout the next part about kissing in public. “Very handsome!” he settles on instead.

Gaara brightens even as his brother groans, rolling his eyes and turning away from them.

“The whole team’s waiting on you, Gaara.”

Gaara nods, turning to walk with his brother. Lee feels his heart sink, pained and slow. He should say something! _Do_ something, but what? It feels unfair, unyouthful, to have something so nice so briefly —

But then Gaara hesitates too, looking back at Lee.

“You’ll make playoffs,” he asks, almost demanding.

Lee’s chest lightens as he beams brightly at the handsome goalie.

“It’s a date!” he shouts — then he throws his hands out, voice squeaking an octave higher. “I mean it’s a match! A match,” he repeats, though this does not sound much better with the heat of Gaara’s lips still lingering on his own and the fierce desire kindling in his chest to see the clever, confusing goalie much sooner than Spring.

Neji always complains that Lee is rotten at _casual_ … but Neji is also a dedicated athlete who could be convinced to watch one of Suna’s home games, maybe next week! Or if not next week, the week after!

Gaara is smiling back, strong and gentle. “I look forward to it,” he answers, and in that moment, it sounds very much like teasing, more of a challenge than a real goodbye.

**Author's Note:**

> aprldaze on twitter & pillowfort


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